Like many other animal lovers, Dutch artist Bart Jansen found it hard to part with his pet cat, Orville, after he was hit by a car. So he decided to turn the dead feline into a unique piece of artwork called the Orvillecopter.

Jansen named his beloved pet after the famous aviator Orville Wright, so I guess it makes perfect sense that he decided to turn the cat into a remote-controlled helicopter. After having the Orville stuffed by a taxidermist, the artist teamed up with radio-controlled helicopter expert Arjen Beltman to make the cat fly for the first time. Beltman designed a custom mechanism and attached it to the stuffed cat to create a truly bizarre flying machine called the Orvillecopter. Bart Jansen unveiled his unique creation on Saturday, at the Kunstrai art festival in Amsterdam, and described it as half cat, half machine.

Photo: Cris Toala Olivares/REUTERS

“After a period of mourning he received his propellers posthumously,” Jansen said about his purring pet, adding that he will soon be flying with the birds he loved chasing so much. Right now, the Orvillcopter isn’t flying as well as its creators would like, but Jansen assured viewers that “he will receive more powerful engines and larger props for his birthday. So this hopping will soon change into steady flight.”